the choice of ‘Jeanne du Barry’ As the film commissioned to open the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night, it works, above all, as a tool to verify how much truth there is in that old saying that bad publicity does not exist. Its director, also an actress Maiwenn LeBesco -known in the world of cinema as Maïwenn, to dry-, had to firmly believe in him when he decided that the interpreter chosen to co-star in the film with her, in the skin of the French monarch Louis XV, was none other than Johnny Depp; indeed, considering that the actor’s French is far from perfect and that his casting took place before he won his highly publicized American court battle against his wife Amber Heard, it’s inevitable to assume that deliberately sought controversy in doing so.
And it seems equally evident that Thierry Fremaux, director of the contest, had a similar desire for controversy; surely he knew that Depp’s presence here, and on the first day of the festival, could generate criticism, and it would have been easy for him to find another film to open with. In front of them, on the other side, is the actor. Surely, what has moved him both to shoot the film -his first relatively high-profile film in a long time- and to visit the festival today is above all the will to turn the page; It remains to be seen whether his film career will recover from the damage caused by the marital scandals, but in any case, there is no doubt that he would have preferred not to become fodder for the tabloids.
the king’s favorite
All the reasoning, of course, would make less sense if ‘Jeanne Du Barry’ justified both its premiere here and its very existence based on artistic merits, but, after all, this is not the case. Initially named Marie-Jeanne Bécu, the woman who gives it its title born in poverty but while still a teenager he managed to climb the social ladder thanks to his body and his sexual expertise, and managed to become the last favorite of the aforementioned king; They lived together in Versailles for more than five years, until his death forced her to leave the palace. By portraying her, the film attempts to both vindicate her and a progressive and proto-feminist figure like establishing itself in a true love story faced with an extraordinarily hostile environment, and it does not meet any of those objectives.
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On the one hand, it tries to convince us that the young woman rebelled not only against her social origins and the corrupt patriarchy but also against the rigidity of the palace protocol and the hatred that the king’s minions had for her, but the person we see on screen it is rather a climber willing to pay the price of a life of luxury. On the other hand, at no time does it reach the tragic romanticism to which it aspires, because the levels of shared chemistry between the lovers are below zero. Depp spends most of his time on stage with the petrified face and the lost look. Maïwenn shows that she confuses passion with giggling and pouting. A rumor recently surfaced according to which, during filming, both took to kill. It is not clear if this publicity is good or bad, but it is certainly better than that received by Maïwenn shortly after it became public that a journalist had denounced her for grabbing his hair and spitting in his face.
‘Jeanne Du Barry’ is not among the works aspiring to the Palme d’Or despite the fact that, in reality, the festival offered its managers a place in the competition. This was stated by Frémaux during a meeting with the press while answering questions related to the film and, more specifically, to Depp. “I only have one rule, and it is freedom of opinion, and freedom of expression and acts, within the law & rdquor ;, he stated in this regard. “If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a movie, or the movie had been banned, we wouldn’t be talking about it now.” In other words, he opted for ‘Jeanne Du Barry’ despite -or perhaps, we said, precisely because of- the controversy that it was surely going to generate. However, a month ago he claimed that his decision not to include Woody Allen’s new film ‘Coup de Chance’ on this year’s schedule had been a means of avoiding controversy. Whether or not bad publicity exists, after all, it seems clear that some controversies are more manageable than others.
The value of a Palme d’Or
“The Palme d’Or is the most important film award in the world and, if I could choose, I would rather win the Palm again than win the Oscar,” he told the press. Ruben Östlundwhich in this 76th edition acts as jury president; Just one year ago, thanks to ‘The Triangle of Sadness, the Swedish director joined the select group of filmmakers who have twice won the highest award given by the competition. In addition to him, those in charge of preparing the list of winners will be five filmmakers –Julia Ducournau, Damián Szifron, Atiq Rahimi, Maryam Touzani and Rungan Nyoni– and the actors Brie Larson and Paul Dano. “We will have noisy debates about the films, and we must all participate in them,” Östlund also commented. “I will not accept that any of them remain silent & rdquor ;.